Why Does My Car Smell Like Rotten Eggs?

Reasons Your Car Smells Like Rotten Eggs

Now, unless you’ve forgotten to take some shopping in or left your egg sandwich festering under the passenger seat for a few weeks, chances are this smell isn’t actually rotten eggs. So what could it be? Well, here’s a few potential culprits:

• Broken Catalytic Converter – A part of your emissions system, the most likely reason you’re experiencing an unpleasant egg-based smell is the catalytic converter. Built to convert the harmful gases, such as hydrogen sulphide into the harmless, odourless gases such as sulphur dioxide. When the catalytic converter fails, it no longer carries out these duties, meaning you’re more likely to experience the unpleasant smells of sulphur.

• Worn Out Fuel Filter or Faulty Fuel Pressure Sensor – If your fuel pressure sensor is playing up, you could find your catalytic converter being overfilled with oil. In this situation, the build up of oil prevents the converter from doing its job correctly, which basically loops back to our first bullet point and causes the unpleasant odours to escape through the exhaust pipe. An overflow of oil can also cause the converter to overheat, which can, again, cause unwanted smells. 

The same issues arise if your fuel filter is worn out, as it causes an influx of sulphur deposits to burn up in the catalytic converter.

• Old Gearbox Oil – This is only likely if you drive a manual car, and have failed to keep up with your regular gearbox oil changes. It is suggested that you renew your gearbox oil every 30,000 miles, and missing this could result in the fluid leaking into other areas of your car’s system, which could create an unpleasant odour. If you do spot any leaks, take the car to your garage as soon as possible.

How to Remove the Rotten Egg Smell From Your Car

It’s quite a simple fix to remove the rotten egg smell from your car – simply locate what’s causing the smell to begin with, whether that’s a broken catalytic converter, dodgy fuel filters, pressure sensors or leaking gearbox oil, and replace the offending item. You should find the smell disappears almost immediately.

It’s important to keep your nose open for unpleasant smells in the driver’s seat, as it’s not just rotten egg smells that could be attacking your nostrils. Smoke or burning smells could be the sign of yet more problems, including an overheating engine, fluid leaks or worn-out brake pads.

If your car has been smelling recently and it’s just the latest in a long line of problems that don’t seem to go away, then you may find the easiest option is to simply get rid of it altogether. By using Scrap Car Comparison, you’re guaranteed to find the best price for a broken car, no matter its condition, age or whatever it smells like – believe us, we’ve seen worse than you can imagine!

Get started today with our industry leading service and we’ll send one of our collection agents out to come and pick up the car from a location convenient to you, absolutely free of charge. It only takes as little as 60 seconds to find out how much your old car could be worth, so pick up the phone or use our online generator now.

---

---